House passes instream bill

Posted by egable on February 28th, 2008 filed in Water

The Colorado General Assembly yesterday passed legislation that would protect instream flow rights. House Bill 1280 ends the “use it or lose it” penalty as it applies to water right holders who want to donate or lease water for stream flows for a given period of time. Under Colorado law, the value of water is currently determined by the holder’s past “consumptive use,” so that value decreases if a water right holder leaves water in a stream rather than using it. By removing the penalty, the measure would protect water right holders who enter into long-term instream flow agreements with the Colorado Water Conservation Board.